Parramatta interim boss Trent Barrett did not sugarcoat anything after Eels’ 30-24 to Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Eels were up 16-0 after just 11 minutes. Mistakes quickly ended up costing Parramatta that lead. Barrett blamed his players’ “dumb errors” for the collapse.
With the loss, Eels are now level on points with Wests Tigers and firmly in the NRL Wooden Spoon race.
For the second time in three weeks, Parramatta suffered a devastating collapse.
In Round 23, a number of controversial refereeing decisions went against the Eels’ way in the second half vs Penrith. Parramatta then heart-breakingly gave up three tries in the final 10 minutes in a 36-34 loss to Panthers.
On Friday night, in NRL Round 25, the Eels lost to Broncos after leading 16-0 11 minutes into the match. Unlike their Round 23 loss, the Eels could only blame themselves for their loss against the Broncos.
Parramatta literally threw away the lead at points with poor pass decisions and dropped balls.
Interim head coach Trent Barrett did not shy away from addressing his side’s poor performance and their many mistakes.
“I would have taken that lead (16-0) if you’d said that to me before the game, (but) the back end of the first half and the errors we made in the second half were poor,” Barrett said.
“Maika’s (Sivo) drop and the intercept for Reno (Adam Reynolds) - we missed the short side there when we should have scored and put them away.
“Kelma’s (Tuilagi) charge down – we don’t charge the ball down inside 10m. So there’s dumb things there that put us in a position to lose.
“Until we learn that, and I can go in there and pat them on the back for their effort and attitude but that’s not enough to win an NRL game and they have to learn. We have to learn.
“We’ve got two weeks to go and we want to win those two games - it’s important for us to finish well.”
Parramatta’s loss to Broncos on Friday night guaranteed that the Wooden Spoon race will come down to the final round of the season.
Eels and Tigers will face off in the “Spoon Bowl” on Friday, September 6 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. If they lose that match, Parramatta will earn the dubious honour of winning four Wooden Spoons in the last 13 years.
The betting sites don’t think that’s likely though. Tigers still lead the overall Wooden Spoon betting odds list. Early NRL betting odds also have Parramatta as favourites to win the Round 27 Spoon Bowl match.
Wests Tigers have Round 26 off, giving them an extra week to prepare for the Spoon Bowl. Eels, meanwhile, host St. George Illawarra Dragons at the CommBank Stadium next Saturday.
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